Can anesthesia hide the trip? new study tests psilocybin for depression without the psychedelic experience
NCT ID NCT07479550
First seen Jun 25, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study tests whether giving psilocybin—a psychedelic drug being studied for depression—under general anesthesia can hide its mind-altering effects. That would allow researchers to run a truly blinded trial where neither patients nor doctors know who got the real drug. Ten adults with major depression will receive either psilocybin or placebo during four sessions of anesthesia. The main goal is to see if the blinding works and if the approach is safe.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only — not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- psilocybin (a psychedelic compound) given under general anesthesia with propofol
- What this could lead to
- If this approach works, it could enable fully blinded studies of psychedelics, improving the reliability of research into depression treatments.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very small early-phase trial (10 people) focused on feasibility and blinding, not on proving effectiveness. The added risks of general anesthesia and the unknown effect of masking the psychedelic experience may limit its success.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
Stanford University
Stanford, California, 94304, United States
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